This was a present from my fencing mate, John, who has a much more eclectic musical tastes than I. I'd never heard of Berlin, whose real name is Zach Condon. In all honesty, I didn't play it for ages because John's into mostly laptronica, which I can take or leave, and because the album's name annoyed me.
When I did play Gulag Orkestar, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not hugely innovative (gentle indie plus bits of East European folk stylings, like a light version of Gogol Bordello) but it's cool as long as you don't examine the lyrics too closely. Unless you're a hippy, in which case you'll be fine singing along. It's a fine album - lots of accordion and good arrangements with some striking steals from all sorts of folk traditions (the Klezmer bits are excellent) but the album slips away without establishing much hold on my tune detectors.
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